TNPL 2018: Madurai Panthers beat Kanchi Veerans by 11 runs

The Veerans started the match strong but were too cautious and lost their way during the middle overs. Veerans opening batsman Vishal Vaidhya got off to a good start and made 31 runs off 34 balls with 2 fours and 1 six to his tally. 

Veerans skipper Baba Aparajith and Vishal Vaidya's second-wicket partnership of 55 runs came off just 46 balls. But they both perished quickly, thereby putting too much pressure on batsmen to follow. 

The Panthers bowlers didn't let the Veerans off the hook either. They bowled tight lines and didn’t give room for the Veerans batting line-up to play their big shots. 

Earlier in the match, Madurai Panthers batting line up failed to turn up for the match, most of them got out for single digit as they scuffled to make 167 runs.

The Panthers started the match on the back foot losing their opening batsman Arun Karthik in the second ball of the match. He smashed the first ball towards the boundary line and got out on the very next ball as he found the fielder in the mid-wicket region. 

Thalaivan Sargunam along with captain D Rohit put up a strong partnership and steadied the innings for the Panthers. Sargunam smashed 62 off 40 balls with 1 four and 7 sixes while skipper Rohit made 32 from 30 balls with 4 fours to his name.

A total well above 170 seemed a possibility but the Panthers lost their way in the middle losing 7 wickets for 55 runs in 49 deliveries, to implode in a big way.

Cameos from Jagatheesan Kousik and Abhishek Tanwar at the end saw them breaching the 165-run mark. 

Breif Scores: Kanchi Veerans 156/6 (Mokit Hariharan 34, Sanjay Yadav 34*; Jagatheesan Kousik 2/31) lose to Madurai Panthers 167/8 (T Sargunam 62, Rohit 32; R Divakar 3/25) by 11 runs